Far from giving you license to eat unlimited steaks and gobs of butter, the revamped Atkins Diet balances lean protein with controlled portions of fat and healthy carbs.

Related

The new Atkins Diet is not your father’s Atkins — the New Atkins Diet Revolution, created in 2002, is a streamlined version of the original diet, and not an all-the-meat-and-fat-you-can-eat fest.

The Atkins Diet is a restricted carbohydrate plan that emphasizes protein and fats, with a minimum of carbs during its initial phase. Select carbs are added back to your diet after an “induction” period of at least two weeks.

The Atkins Diet: What Is It?

The premise of the Atkins Diet is that if you cut back on carbs, the body’s usual fuel, you’re forced to burn your fat stores for energy and thereby lose weight. As with many other diets, the main idea is to stop eating foods made with refined flour and sugar, but even carb-dense whole-grain foods are on the don’t-eat list until you reach the maintenance phase.

To jump-start weight loss, you’ll limit carbs to just 20 grams a day, including three cups of salad greens (one cup can be green veggies instead), four ounces of cheese, half an avocado, a handful of olives, and a few other perks like some cream for coffee. The entire Atkins Diet is available free online.

The Atkins Diet: How Does It Work?

The Atkins Diet is divided into different phases.

Phase 1, or induction, can last for as few as two weeks to many months.

Phase 2, or ongoing weight loss, allows you to gradually increase your daily carb total, adding some variety to your diet with antioxidant-rich berries, some nuts and seeds, and more vegetables, but only five extra daily grams per week — you’ll go from 20 g a day to 25 g a day for a week, then to 30 g a day for the next week and so on. You can keep increasing carbs until you see weight-loss slow or stop. At that point, depending on how close you are to your desired weight, you can move on to Phase 3 or cut back on carbohydrates if weight-loss slows too much. Because protein and fats are more filling, you actually tend to eat less quantity, yet feel full at each stage.

Phase 3 is pre-maintenance. With just 10 pounds left to your weight goal, you add more healthy carbs to your diet and learn how to maintain your weight loss.

Phase 4 is a lifetime maintenance plan with about 100 carb grams a day.

The Atkins Diet: Pros

Almost every health expert has an opinion about the Atkins Diet, yet few are aware of the science behind it.

The diet is easy to stick to. “For people who have a weight problem, every meal is a battle, a tremendous psychological burden. A carbohydrate-restricted diet eliminates the battle,” says Richard D. Feinman, PhD, professor of biochemistry and medical researcher at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., co-editor-in-chief of the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, and director of the Nutrition and Metabolism Society. Feinman has published scientific research on Atkins and carbohydrate-restricted diets. “Protein is the stable part of the diet — that is going to give you some control over the fight with food.”

You don’t have to count portions. “What does portion control really mean? Self-control — and that doesn’t really have a good record,” says Feinman. “Small portions are good, but on a low-carbohydrate diet, if you are still hungry, you can eat another small portion. On a low-fat diet, if you are still hungry, you may be out of luck.” According to Susan Kraus, MS, RD, registered dietitian at the Hackensack University Medical Center in N.J., “People feel it’s easy to follow. You focus on a few food groups, there’s simplicity in that you don’t have to measure foods, and you’re not feeling deprived.”

Glycemic control counts. “Reducing carbohydrates has a health benefit, whether or not you lose weight,” says Feinman. “Insufficient attention is being paid to that.” Biochemistry studies show that restricting carbohydrates helps regulate insulin and ease metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, and diabetes, explains Feinman.

The Atkins Diet: Cons

You’re not getting a well-balanced diet. “With any diet that eliminates a whole food group, you’re not going to get all your nutrients,” says Barbara Schmidt, MS, RD, lifestyle specialist at Norwalk Hospital and a nutritionist in private practice in New Canaan, Conn. “Omitting all these food groups — vegetables, grains, fruit — even if you make up nutrients with a vitamin and mineral supplement, you’re not getting enough fiber,” adds Kraus. “There are also many phytochemicals, which are compounds found naturally in fruits and veggies that provide strong antioxidant effects (and that might not be found in a general multivitamin and mineral supplement), along with fiber, calcium, and vitamin D, that would not be gotten by eating this way.”

You’re really missing out on calcium. “The latest research is about calcium and its connection to fat metabolism,” says Schmidt. “People who have an adequate amount of calcium — 1,200 milligrams a day — lose weight and maintain their weight loss. We don’t understand or know what mechanism it is, but it regulates fat metabolism, reduces the risk of osteoporosis, colon cancer, and hypertension, and even PMS. Supplements are not as effective. I like the ‘natural packaging’ of low-fat and non-fat dairy products. The cheese available on Atkins is a poor source of calcium — 1 ounce has about 100 mg of calcium — and is high in saturated fat, whereas 8 ounces of yogurt gives you 400 mg. Even cottage cheese is a poor source because the whey, which has the calcium, is lost when it’s made.”

It can make you dehydrated. Carbs hold onto water in your body, so when you don’t eat carbs, you lose a lot of water weight. This can raise your uric acid level and cause a gout attack, increase calcium loss through urine, and overwork your kidneys and liver, says Kraus. You’ll need to be sure to drink extra water.

The Atkins Diet: Short-Term and Long-Term Effects

“In the short term, by following the Atkins Diet you can see results quickly. You limit food intake because you naturally don’t feel hungry,” says Kraus. “A generally healthy person can be on it for a few months without adverse effects.” Kraus’s concern is on how dieters will view food: “Drastic plans cause a warped view of how to lose weight, creating a different sense of what’s okay and what’s not okay. A dieter might be mortified to have a little pasta or slice of bread.”

A long-term follower of a carb-restricted diet (60 to 100 grams a day) himself, Feinman sums up dieting somewhat tongue-in-cheek: “Losing weight is easy: Don’t eat. If you have to eat, don’t eat carbs; if you have to eat carbs, choose carbs that are low on the glycemic index.”

This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

Advertising Notice

This Site and third parties who place advertisements on this Site may collect and use information about
your visits to this Site and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of
interest to you. If you would like to obtain more information about these advertising practices and to make
choices about online behavioral advertising, please click here.